We are excited to be attending another OWAC Conference next week in Auburn, California. Because of the distance of our travel, we will be traveling a day early and staying at the Miner’s Camp cabin the first night. Then the conference continues in Auburn at the Holiday Inn on Sunday May 22 and Monday May 23, with craft events, dinners, activities and meeting and talking with other outdoor writers of California.

We have been notified that High & Dry has won some kind of award for work in the last year. Osceola is a regular winner with stunning outdoor photography that also includes work actually at the conference itself. We were honored last year when our website desertdispatches.com was singled out for special commendation by our peers.

The conference also allows us to focus on future plans and decide future trips into our deserts, and what dispatches and subjects we will be exploring. The conference also includes a lot of fun as well, and even some relaxing. We’ll update you after the conference concludes.

“The Horse” exhibit is now open at he Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada. I was asked to curate five films made in Lone Pine featuring famous horses through a partnership between the museum in Reno and The Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. If you are in the area, please come by on a Sunday in April, or visit on May 1 to participate in our panel on horse films featuring me, Petrine Mitchum and Larry Maurice.

The Flame of Araby

In an orientalist fantasy, an Arabian-nights princess and a Bedouin chief contend over possession of a stallion, but unite to oppose the Corsair Lords. Starring Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler, and Maxwell Reed (77 minutes, unrated). Following the film screening, enjoy a panel discussion with film historians Petrine Mitchum, author of Hollywood Hoofbeats, and Christopher Langley from the Museum of Western Film History and renowned cowboy poet Larry Maurice. Book signing to follow.

“The Horse” exhibit is now open at he Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada. I was asked to curate five films made in Lone Pine featuring famous horses through a partnership between the museum in Reno and The Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. If you are in the area, please come by on a Sunday in April, or visit on May 1 to participate in our panel on horse films featuring me, Petrine Mitchum and Larry Maurice.

Sand

Based on a Will James story, Sand is a prized stallion, belonging to Mark Stevens (Jeff Keane) that disappears into the Colorado wilderness (filmed on location in Lone Pine, California) after a train accident. When recovered, Sand has developed a mean streak. Suffering various abuses, the original owner finally regains Sand’s trust.

“The Horse” exhibit is now open at he Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada. I was asked to curate five films made in Lone Pine featuring famous horses through a partnership between the museum in Reno and The Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. If you are in the area, please come by on a Sunday in April, or visit on May 1 to participate in our panel on horse films featuring me, Petrine Mitchum and Larry Maurice.

Just Tony

A cowboy (Tom Mix) seeks revenge against the man who shot him in a bar-room brawl. While searching for him, he comes across a wild stallion that he is determined to capture and break, and unknowingly falls in love with the daughter of the man who shot him. Based on a Max Brand short story “Alcatraz,” Just Tony tells the fictitious story of how Tom Mix acquired his famous film horse, Tony. This film made Tony a national star and a favorite of fans.

“The Horse” exhibit is now open at he Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada. I was asked to curate five films made in Lone Pine featuring famous horses through a partnership between the museum in Reno and The Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. If you are in the area, please come by on a Sunday in April, or visit on May 1 to participate in our panel on horse films featuring me, Petrine Mitchum and Larry Maurice.

Black Midnight

Scott Jordan (Roddy McDowall) must tame a wild horse he names Midnight and stand by the horse when he is falsely accused of murder, while his prodigal son works to sell stolen horses. The seldom seen picture, filmed in the windy mountains of Lone Pine California, is directed by famous western director Oscar “Budd” Boetticher.

Please join us for Film Fridays, a series of free documentary film screenings and community discussions at Alpine Elementary School. Next up is the film festival favorite, Darwin.

Synopsis: Darwin is a documentary feature about an isolated community at the end of a weathered road in Death Valley, California. Propelled from society by tragic turns, the people of Darwin (population 35) must now find ways to coexist in a place without a government, a church, jobs, or children. The film tells the story of a uniquely American place and yet a place that is unique even within America.

PLEASE NOTE: Some subject matter is probably not appropriate for young children.

This will be our last Film Fridays screening before our community film festival in May.

After the film, join High & Dry author and desert poet, Christopher Langley, and photographer, Charles Hood, as they help us understand the pleasures and prejudices of living in towns forgotten by the rest of urban California. What do we gain by living where we do, and what assumptions do others make about us? What cliches do we each face, and what if some of them (at least a little bit) are true? Share your experiences and join what promises to be a spirited discussion. As some of us may say after the movie "At least I don't live in Darwin."

Metabolic Studio’s IOU Radio Theater will be broadcasting the play by Ruth Woodman, “Death Valley Scotty” from the Death Valley Visitor’s Center. This will be a fundraiser to benefit Scotty’s Castle restoration work after the site suffered the severe damage of a 1000 year flood. Time TBA.

NOTE: These images are snapshots that I took of Osceola Refetoff and I (as High & Dry) investigating the flood at Scotty’s Castle. When this investigation is published as a Dispatch, these images will not be used. Instead the images will be the ones Osceola is taking in these images and will be of much higher quality and professional in nature.

Beginning January 9, Chungking Studio hosts a new exhibition featuring paintings by guest artist Scott A Trimble and photography by Osceola Refetoff, co-curated by Refetoff with Shana Nys Dambrot.

After exchanging studio visits and developing an affinity for each other’s work, these two artists were inspired to have a show together that reflected both their mutual admiration and the apparent stylistic unlikeliness of their pairing. Refetoff and Dambrot chose work by each artist that best explores the territories their work does share – haunting and richly textured landscapes; striking palettes and graphic lines; and a feel for the awkward contours of the relationship between humanity and nature – constructing an intuitive and eccentric visual diary of these artists’ casually profound, and very much ongoing, inter-studio conversation.

Chris Langley will be leading students from USC Heritage Conservations Master’s Degree program on preservation of important movie locations in the Alabama Hills. This is a private tour for twenty plus students, accompanied by Edward R. Bosley, James N. Gamble Director, The Gamble House in Pasadena, CA.

This coming weekend is shaping up to be quite fun in Lone Pine, CA. Friday and Saturday there are showings of the original War of the Worlds movie starring Gene Barry at the Museum of Western Film History at 701 Main Street.